Modular homes which are constructed in a plant and then shipped in sections on road transport vehicles are well known in the art. However, such prefabricated building structures need to have specific dimensions as stipulated by laws and regulations for their transportation on public roads. These building structures are usually fabricated in modules which are of substantially rectangular shape and these modules are connected together on a foundation once they are shipped to a building site. However, when the roofs of such building structures are intended to be pitched roofs, there is a constrained on height limitation and accordingly the roof needs to be either erected on the site or shipped separately in sections on another road vehicle. This has proven to be a costly process when the intention of a prefabricated modular structure is primarily to provide a structure which is economical and easy to erect on site, usually within hours.
From U.S. Pat. No. 6,681,544, it is known to fabricate and transport a small building structure having a pitch roof. As described in that patent, the pitch roof is made of two sections and these sections are folded flat on the rectangular supporting walls of the building structure which is placed on a flatbed transport vehicle for shipping to an erection site. Special clamps are provided to secure the roof structure in its collapsed position and then to permit the roof sections to be disposed at an elevated angular position to form the pitch roof. To do this, the patent in question provides a novel roof coupling and guiding mechanism that employs roller assemblies which can be temporarily or permanently installed. The roof coupling and guiding mechanism do not provide for the raising of the roof panels at the construction site. The coupling devices are only provided to guide and stabilize and control the direction of movement of the roof panels and a crane is required on site for effecting the lifting of the roof panels. These coupling devices permit the roof panels to roll or slide towards a final design ridge position above the walls so as to allow roof slopes of any desired pitch or to permit the creation of other roof designs such as gable roofs, mansard roofs, hip roofs, and shed roofs.
The present invention relates to a prefabricated building structure of the type as described in the above-mentioned patent but having a novel structural design whereby the prefabricated building structure can be shipped with the roof structure in a collapsed condition for transport by a road vehicle and wherein a leverage means is provided in association with one or more roof sections to permit the roof sections to be raised to form a pitch roof structure without the use of a crane.